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Service + Solidarity Spotlight: IAFF Members Lead Campaign for Referendum to Hire Six New Firefighters
Working people across the United States have stepped up to help out our friends, neighbors and communities during these trying times. In our regular Service + Solidarity Spotlight series, we’ll showcase one of these stories every day. Here’s today’s story.
Members of the Fire Fighters (IAFF) Local 3432 in the small city of Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, led a campaign last month for a local referendum to increase the property tax levy to fund the hiring of six new firefighters. “Having six new firefighters/paramedics will enable us to better serve the community without exhausting our members with excessive amounts of overtime,” said Local 3432 President Tony Thomas. “The IAFF was with us every step of the way. From help with campaign strategy and messaging to the development of yard signs, mailers and ads, the international provided invaluable service and support.” Voters passed the referendum 66% to 34%.
Kenneth Quinnell
Fri, 12/04/2020 - 10:34
Tags:
COVID-19,...
Service + Solidarity Spotlight: Rebuilding the Energy Industry: Wyoming AFL-CIO Comes Out in Support of Energy Rebound Program
Working people across the United States have stepped up to help out our friends, neighbors and communities during these trying times. In our regular Service + Solidarity Spotlight series, we’ll showcase one of these stories every day. Here’s today’s story.
The Wyoming State AFL-CIO and its 18,000 union members are applauding Gov. Mark Gordon for investing money from the CARES Act into the state’s new “Energy Rebound Program” to keep energy workers on the job throughout the pandemic. The $15 million state initiative will save jobs in the struggling oil and gas sector. In a recent column for SweetwaterNOW, state federation Executive Secretary Tammy Johnson (USW) emphasized the importance of using the funding to keep in-state workers employed. “Done right, this cash will put hundreds of oil and gas workers back to work in the state. Yet this effort will miss its mark, if these dollars are not specifically earmarked to provide jobs to Wyoming workers,” she wrote.
Kenneth Quinnell
Thu, 12/03/2020 - 10:07...
Strengthening Collective Bargaining Rights: In the States Roundup
It's time once again to take a look at the ways working people are making progress in the states. Click on any of the links to follow the state federations on Twitter.
Alaska AFL-CIO:
Vic Fischer on what needs to happen now that the 2020 Election is over: "The next step? Finish the process of recalling Gov. Dunleavy and his divisive agenda."@recalldunleavy#recalldunleavy#akleg#akgovhttps://t.co/4e0WuV76xW— Alaska AFL-CIO (@AKAFLCIO) November 20, 2020
Arizona AFL-CIO:
The Arizona AFL-CIO is preparing to organize constituency groups and would like to have your responses to the following survey: https://t.co/0vIZb3qWN6— Arizona AFL-CIO // #VotersDecided (@ArizonaAFLCIO) November 20, 2020
California Labor Federation:
Almost one year ago, Google fired its workers for organizing. Today the NLRB declared Google violated US labor laws by spying and retaliating against workers who were organizing protests.This is huge. The labor movement stands with you @GoogleWalkout! #Solidarity https://t.co/x9vYy4eq42— California Labor Federation (@CaliforniaLabor...
Local Union President Elected to the New York State Senate
Labor stalwart John Mannion has been officially elected to the New York state senate to represent a district in the Syracuse suburbs. Mannion is the president of a local New York State United Teachers (NYSUT/AFT-NEA) union and he received steadfast support in his campaign from the Central New York Area Labor Federation and its affiliates.
A popular high school teacher in his district, he leveraged his ties with his community and his regional labor movement to secure the win. “This year we have faced unimaginable challenges—an uncontrolled pandemic, the economic uncertainty that followed and a federal government that has failed to respond….As I head to Albany next session, I hope that my work there will help restore our faith in our elected leaders and government,” Mannion wrote in an email to supporters. His election to the state senate in a close race means that pro-labor senators will hold a 43–20 supermajority in the upper house for the first time ever.
Kenneth Quinnell
Wed, 12/02/2020 - 10:59
Service + Solidarity Spotlight: College Students Campaign in Runoff Election with Support from Georgia AFL-CIO
Working people across the United States have stepped up to help out our friends, neighbors and communities during these trying times. In our regular Service + Solidarity Spotlight series, we’ll showcase one of these stories every day. Here’s today’s story.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s reign of power over the U.S. Senate may be coming to an end soon if voters in Georgia manage to flip two seats in runoff elections early in the new year. Working people are campaigning in support of pro-labor candidates Jon Ossoff and the Rev. Raphael Warnock. Students at Clark Atlanta University, with support from the HBCU Green Fund and the Georgia State AFL-CIO, led voter registration drives this weekend targeted at registering new voters. Students and volunteers also participated in door-to-door literature drops in Clayton County to remind voters about the runoff election on Jan. 5 and that early voting starts on Dec. 14.
Kenneth Quinnell
Wed, 12/02/2020 - 09:53
Tags:
COVID-19...
Amtrak to Give Horn Salute to Honor Legacy of TTD President Larry Willis
On Wednesday, Dec. 2, Amtrak will honor the legacy of Transportation Trades Department (TTD) President Larry Willis with a horn salute. Larry died Sunday from injuries he sustained in a cycling accident near Great Falls Park in Maryland. He was 53.
“Larry was a true champion of the nation’s transportation network and the workers who make it possible,” said Amtrak CEO William Flynn. “Larry was a strong advocate for Amtrak and believed in the need for a robust, modern, well-funded national passenger rail network for the nation. Our thoughts are with Larry’s family, his TTD and labor colleagues, and all of those in the transportation industry that were touched by Larry’s deep passion and fierce advocacy for transportation workers during this difficult time.”
Amtrak engineers across the country will simultaneously blow one long whistle at noon ET on Wednesday, Dec. 2, to honor Larry’s life work in support of passenger rail and his deep passion and fierce advocacy for transportation workers.
“The collective hearts of America’s labor movement, particularly...
Working People Plan Diverse Activities for Thanksgiving
For Thanksgiving weekend, many working families will take time off to share a meal, either virtually or in person. Many others have to work over the weekend. And still others will be helping out their friends and neighbors during these tough times. Here is a sampling of the activities various unions will be participating in for Thanksgiving:
Maine: The 18th annual Solidarity Harvest, co-sponsored by the Eastern, Southern and Western Maine labor councils, is made possible by the efforts of more than 50 unions, faith groups and other organizations. This year, the project is expected to provide 1,400 Thanksgiving meals to union and community members who are experiencing hard times.
Indianapolis: The annual Circle of Lights event, presented by Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 481, this year will be a special made-for-TV-only affair, featuring Santa, musical acts from the Tom Wood Talent Search and the lighting up of Monument Circle to kick off the holiday season.
Kansas: Machinists District Lodge 70, in association with the Wichita/Hutchinson Labor Federation, has launched its Salvation...
Service + Solidarity Spotlight: UFCW Demands Action in Face of Shocking COVID-19 Failures
Working people across the United States have stepped up to help out our friends, neighbors and communities during these trying times. In our regular Service + Solidarity Spotlight series, we’ll showcase one of these stories every day. Here’s today’s story.
The United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Tyson Foods after at least five meatpackers died and more than 1,000 others were infected with coronavirus at the company’s plant in Waterloo, Iowa. The lawsuit alleges that employees were ordered to report to work even if they were sick. Supervisors allegedly bet money on how many workers would be infected.
UFCW International President Marc Perrone demanded that action be taken: “These stunning safety failures make clear that the Trump administration and Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds care more about industry profits than protecting America’s front-line workers. Protecting our country’s meatpacking workers is essential to keeping our food supply secure. We are continuing to call on elected leaders to implement an...
Breakthrough for Organized Labor and Clean Energy
Her goal was to go beyond good intentions and rhetoric. So Liz Shuler, as secretary-treasurer of the AFL-CIO, the second-highest position in the labor movement and, as it happens, highest-ranking woman in the federation’s history, went to Scandinavia in 2019. She leveraged AFL-CIO’s relationships with their sister union federations to talk directly with top management at some of the largest renewable energy companies in the world.
The big idea was to make an example of offshore wind—a template for how union labor will build the clean energy future.
Over the next year, she worked to bring leading renewable energy project developers from Norway and Denmark to the table with building trades unions. She connected state labor federations along the East Coast of the U.S. in a working group on offshore wind. She quietly talked with elected leaders. This is her forte. She comes from a building trades union; she’s adept at building bridges. And through months of crises, amid a pandemic, she kept the conversation alive.
But Shuler isn’t one for self-promotion. She lets results speak...
Service + Solidarity Spotlight: Iowa Federation of Labor Joins Legal Fight Over State OSHA Protections
Working people across the United States have stepped up to help out our friends, neighbors and communities during these trying times. In our regular Service + Solidarity Spotlight series, we’ll showcase one of these stories every day. Here’s today’s story.
The Iowa Federation of Labor joined the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Iowa and a number of other unions and advocacy groups in filing a federal complaint against the state’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) on Nov. 13, asserting that regulators failed to protect people from COVID-19 outbreaks during the pandemic.
President Charlie Wishman (AFT) of the Iowa Federation of Labor said his labor federation joined the suit because there seems to be a lack of concern for the health and safety of working Iowans.
“Iowa OSHA is supposed to protect workers, not corporations. Now with COVID-19, we’re seeing more of the same, but with a new and terrible twist,” Wishman said. “When Iowa workers are exposed to COVID-19, it doesn’t threaten just their health...
